midget1500

<dr nick voice>hi everbody</dr nick voice>,

as i built my own car i had to learn pretty quickly how they work. my parents always buy new cars every 3 years (due to warrenties, etc). I'm trying to convince them to start buying 1-3 year old cars. now to the point!

they bought my sister a 5 door fiesta. along came its first service 10k miles which was pretty straight forward. then came the 20k service and the amount of stuff that they said needed to be replaced was untrue;

power steering pump leaking
all new suspension bushes
new tyres
new disks
new pads
etc...

we thought this was mad (my sister drives like a 90 year old) but as it was under warrenty it was all paid for (except tyres/pads) so we never asked any questions.

now, it's just had its 30k service and the warrenty has expired. they phoned to say it needs new wipers, the passenger side rear wheel cylinder is leaking and the tie rod ends are worn. so on top of £105 service (oil change & spark plugs!!) they wanted another 150 quid. we said no to the work. now, it had new bosch wipers a year ago and they work fine. jacked up the car, inspected the rear wheel cylinder and guess what? no leak in sight. nothing work with the brakes. brake fluid level is fine. tie rod ends are also fine.

so, now i really believe that at the 20k service nothing was wrong with the car. from now on i shall be doing all the work on the fiesta and my car and my mums mgf (convinced her after the 10k service was 180 quid for an oil/filter change!!) though my dads merc is still under warrenty.

after reading some of the other threads and hearing other stories, are main dealers really this dishonest? i don't trust car mechanics at all with my car with the exception of a few back street garage guys that i know and trust.

any thoughts?

midget1500

doh! mods - i meant to post this in NSR

The Zohan

We mostly are in NSR as you well know!

Re your sisters mota, this sounds a little odd for a low miler, is the car old, have you had it from new or is there a chance it has been clocked?

For such a low miler to have so many problems sounds a little odd!

I would take it to another garage for a second opinion, i am sure someone on here could reccommend a 'tame' garage that they trust.

midget1500

bought brand new. want to know the best bit? it was left off at 9, we got the call 30 mins later yet the car wasn't ready till 2 to be picked up!

and this is a main ford dealer.

scoobyboy

how did you check the tie rods as these usally need to be tested by putting the handbrake on and rocking the car this then shows any play. just looking at them and giving them a tug will probably not show anything unless they are really bad. also the the wheel cylinder needs to be checked by taking the drum off the car then pulling the rubber dust seals back . if there is fluid under these then the fluid seals are starting to leak and could fail under emergency braking it may be a small leak as not to show on the fluid reservoir. the wipers are a personal thing imo if they smear the screen i change them regardless of how long they have been on the car cos it's one thing that really annoys me smeary wipers
maybe they were just being over cautious about your safety i dont know.

midget1500

scoobyboy - yes, you have to take the drum off and check behind the seals (lots of experience of this with my car!) BUT despite me checking - they hadn't even taken the hub off! or the wheel for that matter so unless they saw an imaginary leak down the backplate from the pipe union then it's a load of crap.

as for the wipers - they just thought, ahh, 30k service, that'll be new wiper blades (without even checking).

forgot to add, last time i collected the car at the 20k service i walked over to it, could hear hissing - the tyre had a puncture. i walked back inside and they couldn't give a s**t and wanted me to pay for it to be fixed. well, the car wasn't left with a puncture.

i did do the handbrake test as mentioned.